Nice
by Alyson Trotter
Summary: Ron and Hermione's first date begins as one of the most awkward moments either has ever experienced. Inspired from a comment about just how awkward they might be trying to go outon a date. Became more of a story than slap stick comedy : RR!


**A/N:** So I have never written a Hermione/Ron fanfic, but I was reading a review about how someone loved imagining how awkward they would be around each other on their first date and I was inspired! So here is the result :) mostly it's me trying to distract myself from my unadulterated excitement at the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!!!!

* * *

**Nice**

"So uh," Ron's voice cracked as he tried loosening his collar a bit, "it's really, um, nice out today."

"Uh, yeah. It's really, uh, nice," Hermione fidgeted in her seat and found it difficult to look at anything other than her hands.

It was actually the middle of December and one of the worst snowstorms to hit the Hogwarts area. God, this was going awful. What had possessed Ron to go through with this anyway? It was almost as bad as the time he had asked Fleur Delacour to the Yule Ball, only she had a right enough mind to turn him down.

"Yeah and, um, this place it's really, you know…nice," Ron finished lamely.

Okay, time to add a new adjective to the conversation. Besides, he was lying through his teeth. It wasn't nice at all. It was that stupid tea house in Hogsmeade that he remembered Harry had gone to with Cho; and he knew how that ended. Why in the world he would follow their horrific example was beyond him. Well, so was all this…date stuff. But god, the place was unbearable. He wasn't sure Hermione was that impressed either. At least, if the horrified look she made when they spotted the creepy, flying cherub was any indication.

Oh god, what had he done?

"So um—," Ron tried once again before he was interrupted by a woman dressed in a pink, frilly apron with the words Madame Puddifoot's embroidered in elaborate cursive.

"Oh new love! How wonderful! I just adore customers who are just entering the throes of a passionate relationship!"

Ron and Hermione looked far from entering the throes of anything much less a passionate relationship. The awkward start to their date had caused Ron's ears to turn a pomegranate red while sweat rolled profusely down his face. Hermione looked pale as a ghost and her leg had begun to twitch so much that the table had actually started to shake. But now, both had lifted their eyes from the doily covered table to stare incredulously at the woman before them. What kind of pink powdered sugar was she sniffing back behind the cake display case anyway?

"The magic of it all! I know just the thing for such an occasion! How about I grab you two a Passion Parfait, with one spoon of course, followed by Infatuation Infused Peppermint Tea ending with a box of Naughty Nougat filled chocolates? I'm sure that sounds just tantalizing to two such love birds!"

They sat in silent as their waitress smiled toothily down at them.

"Actually I think we already know what we're looking for," said Hermione. Ron tore his eyes from their waitress and stared at Hermione, who'd gained back some of her color and had traded her deer in the headlight expression for one of serious thought. Oh god, what was she going to order? Adoration Apple Pie? Cutesy Cute Crullers? He had made a major mistake bringing her here.

"Do you by any chance have any Fainting Fancies?" She asked seriously. Ron snorted loudly, but disguised it quickly as a coughing fit. Their waitress however looked attentively at Hermione.

"Why, no! I don't believe I have! Do they cause the eater to faint from the passion of their lovers kiss?"

"Er, no. Not _exactly_." Hermione answered.

"Oh." Their waitress looked quite put out by this bit of news.

"What about some Fever Fudge?" followed Ron as Hermione put her napkin up to her mouth in an effort to hide her giggling.

"No, I don't think I've heard of that one either. Does it create a passionate fever in an otherwise meek lover?"

"Uh, not really," Ron replied. Their waitress looked even more crushed, but still quite interested in what they had to say.

"Well then, I don't suppose you've heard of Nosebleed Nougets or Puking Pastilles," countered Hermione, "They're quite popular among the young, passionate lovers!" Their waitress looked slightly taken aback by their sudden enthusiasm for what seemed like a rather disturbing relationship.

"Oh, but you haven't _lived_ until you've tried U-No-Poo!" insisted Ron. They sat there in stunned silence for a minute before Hermione's napkin was no longer enough as tears rolled down her cheeks and she could hardly breathe from laughing. Ron held his composure until their waitress began to back away from their table with a fearful look on her face. But he too could no longer hold it and soon he and Hermione were getting looks from all the other couples as they randomly shouted "U-No-Poo" between fits of laughter.

The rest of their date composed of chucking sugar cubes at passing cherubs and trying to get their waitress, who was unconvincingly pretending to not notice them, to bring them a few Ton-Tongue Toffees and some Canary Creams.

They finally left Madame Puddifoot's, to the great relief of everyone present, and began down the lane towards the main street. The snowstorm had subsided and they walked in comfortable silence for a while before Hermione stopped in the middle of the road. Ron stopped too and turned towards her still smiling from what was shaping up to be the best Hogsmeade trip he'd ever taken.

"Ron," she started, "I just wanted to say…thanks."

"What for?"

"For taking me to that ridiculous place." Ron's ears smarted as they turned bright red in the winter cold.

"Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. I had no idea it would turn out to be like _that_," he replied huffily.

"Ron, don't take it so personally, I didn't mean it like that. And there's no need to go and ruin a perfectly good afternoon with a bunch of bickering," retorted Hermione half exasperated and half amused, "Although, I guess I wouldn't enjoy this date half as much if we didn't bicker at least a little."

Ron stared down at Hermione in disbelief. Girls! There was honestly something wrong with them. They were having a perfectly good time, after the whole awkward start, and now she insulted his choice of date spots, while admittedly it was complete rubbish, and now she said she wanted to fight?

"And what is that supposed to mean?" asked Ron apprehensively.

"What it means, _Ron_, is that I had a really great time today; just like I do every other day when we're together. We don't need to go out and pretend we're the kind of people who spend their Hogsmeade trips in Madame Puddifoot's feeding one another Passion Parfaits." Ron was even more confused and began to feel this whole trying to date Hermione was simply not worth it. "We argue! We joke around and we argue and that's just the way it is. That's why I like you and that's why I agreed to go out on a date with you."

It was just the two of them standing across from one another with their visible breath filling the space of air between them. Hermione began to wonder if maybe this was a little too much honesty for Ron, after all, he only possessed the emotional range of a teaspoon. She liked that they bickered and laughed, but she liked even more than that. She like the little things that made him Ron and she just wished that for once he knew that. That he knew that she really didn't hate that he put off his homework or that he bothered more with Quidditch than things like prefect duties, because with out those things, he just wouldn't be Ron. He wouldn't be her best friend and he wouldn't be the guy she had slowly fallen in love with.

Ron stared down at Hermione. He felt one hundred times more comfortable out here in the freezing cold bickering with her than he had even once inside that hell hole of a Valentine's day greeting card. It was as if everything had clicked and he realized that he was right where he wanted to be with the person he wanted to be with…even if she was completely insane and it was the middle of December. It's true that they're not the types to spend time at Madame Puddifoot's, but he had just figured that it was the only way he could show Hermione that he liked her. It's not as if he were the type to sing his love from the turret tops, it was a miracle in and of itself that he had spit out the words "Hogsmeade….Puddifoot's…you…me." yesterday after dinner. He just hoped she understood that…that he was trying; even if he made an ass of himself in the process.

Suddenly Hermione took a step towards him, closing the gap between until their coat buttons nearly touched. She looked up into his blue eyes and felt the all too familiar weakness in her knees. It's seemed inhuman and utterly cliché to think that someone's eyes could manage any such feat, and yet she had been fighting it for the past year now making it all too real. But this time she didn't have to fight it on her own, Ron's arms came around her waist, slowly and timidly at first until he stepped nearer and held her close. She looked up at his face, a foot about her own, as he looked down at her with a wide smile, but uncertain eyes. She smiled at the Ron type thoughts and questions that must be running through his mind and pulled his head down towards hers with the intent of silencing them forever.

Her lips brushed gently against his until he leaned in too. He lifted one hand to cradle her head and they felt things they had tried to hide for so long. They pulled apart, panting slightly. Ron stared at Hermione with a crooked grin on his face. With a hoarse voice he broke the silence.

"So…that was….nice."

* * *

I'd love to hear what you think! 


End file.
